Posh Inks on Fabric?

[jerijoy]

Besides stamping, I do a lot of quilting and fabric art. I love Posh Rainbow Inks so much, I would like to know if I can use them on fabric? I do know that most inks or paints that can be used on fabric have to be heat set. I've seen where you can use the Posh Inks on wood, etc, but nothing about fabric. Thanks for any help you can give me.:

[i.r.stamper]

I moved this over from the "Club Help" Forum. Now all you rainbow ink officianados can help jenjoy with her fabric/ink question, K? And if anyone knows, I'm interested, too. Does someone know of some kind of 'treatment', spray, or something that will allow us to use our rainbow inks with fabric???:confused:

[linda beyer]

what if......you dulited it with water or alcohol. then spritzed it.
haven't tried it but it might work.

[Marta]

I know that you can buy fabric medium that you can mix with acrilyc paints to use on fabric. YOu would still have to heat set them at the end.

I have no idea if it would work with the posh inks, but it may be an idea to try... if anybody does, please let us know :)

The ones you can use on wood and metal are the metallics, if I am not mistaken. I don't know if the regular Posh inks would work.

[CarlottaP]

Marta-

I have my bottle of Textile Medium (by Delta) here, and am reading the directions. It does say to mix it with Acrylic Paint or Fabric Dye to "help the paint move more easily across the fabric, to prevent bleeding and penetrate the fibers for permanency. The more Textile Medium that is added, the more transparent the color becomes."

No help. So I guess I need to try this one out to dee if any dye will work and not just Fabric Dye.

I should know by Friday, as I will have ot mix and paint and heat set and then wash it a few times to see if the color stays.

Wish me luck!

[CarlottaP]

Here is my first attempt to mix the Inkabilities with fabric stamping.

Items used:
Triple-Ups- Flower, Leaf (outline image stamp only)
Inkabilities: Carribean Rainbow
Other items needed- black fabric ink, textile medium, iron, item to stamp on, fabric brush to paint with

The hardest thing was to find an item to stamp on at 10:30 at night. I decided on this canvas tool apron that I have- after all, it is cloth and plain and fairly clean, since I still use my old canvas apron for convenience.

I used black fabric ink with a dauber tip and dabbed the ink onto the outline stamps of the flower and leaf stamps, then stamped them in a small area in the front of the apron. I heat set it with the iron, then I started mixing the ink and textile medium.

There is no specific recipe for this so I used a ratio of 3 drops textile medium to one drop ink. Posh Impressions inks are SO concentrated you might want to adjust this to your color concentration preference if this experiment works.

I used all of the ink colors in the set because I like color and I used 2 colors on each flower and leaf. I just stroked the ink mixture into the stamped images with the fabric paint brush.

You have to heat set the inks. I ws too tired to do it at that point (it was about 12:30 AM then) so I did that the next night. Now, you are supposed to wait 5 days to launder the item, but I am going to wash it tonight (which is about 48 hours later) and see how it turns out.

Anyway, here is the scan of the apron before washing-

http://www.deegruenig.com/ideas/data/500/4apr25_0-med.jpg

The colors aren't really accurate, as I don't have a great photo program for correction.

I'll scan the after washing shot in a couple of days and let you know how it came out.

[stampire]

Carlotta,
Thanks for sharing your tips with us. I wouldn't have thought to use the inks with my textile medium. Then again, I son't do alot with fabric. I'll be intesrested to see the results after you was the apron.

[CarlottaP]

Well, I washed the apron twice today (machine on gentle cycle). There was a significant amount of washout of color with the first washing, a little more with the second. Although the color is still pretty, I wouldn't want to use this method to color my stamping again. I am going to look for another type of medium to mix my Inkabilities in and see if I get less fading.

Here is the apron after the second washing and drying.

http://www.deegruenig.com/ideas/data/500/4apr26_0-med.jpg

Notice the scan shows the blue flower is a better blue, but the hot pink flower now shows mostly the purple color, and the yellow and orange flower is now mostly pale orange, but the yellow flower centers are still yellow.

You can decide for yourself if this was a full success but I would say it is only a partial one if the fading continues with washing.

[Marta]

Carlotta, you are amazing! Thank you for experimenting and posting your results for all of us!

I think this may work if you are painting something that is not intended to be washed. Or maybe if you have waited 5 days...? I must admit I bought the fabric medium but I have never used it before... I am in awe of all fabric painting/stamping projects, and this one is no exception :)

I just received hand painted T-shirts for my kids from a friend for Easter. She uses puff paint and paints little designs on shirts. They are very cute for kids. She is so creative...

Have a great day everybody - it is great to see all the creative juices flowing! :)

[i.r.stamper]

Gee, Carlotta, I think I'd call this one a success! After all, you didn't allow the medium the full 'set-up' time, that might be why you're getting so much ink wash-out. I think I'd give this one another try!;) Even after a few washings, it's still darn pretty!!!:D

[CarlottaP]

Oh, Char, I forgot that I had washed it early to see how well the colors would fair! I think I will try again and allow the full % days to work it's magic. I'm also looking for different mediums to mix the Inkabilities with, so I'll post updates.

And thank you so much to everyone who took the time to send me public and private messages about the experiment, as even a moderator needs a little encouragement now and then.

I had fun with this experiment, with spring here and summer coming I can see having a lot of fun trying this out on different items.

[Gmalew]

Just found this thread. Great project! I wonder if the colors would be more permanent if you heat set them? Just a thought......Marlene

[Gmalew]

Oh dear I just re-read the thread and realized you did heat set the apron. Just goes to show I should have gone to bed hours ago. Sorry.....Marlene